Staying On Target

June 16, 2015

SCRIPTURE

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

~Matthew 23:23, NLT

QUOTE

“Getting distracted by trifles is the easiest thing in the world… Focus on your main duty”

~ Epictetus

I’ll be honest, I had never heard of Matt Emmons until I read his story in a book. Matt was competing in the 50-meter three -position rifle event in the 2004 Olympics; he was one shot away from a Gold Medal. All he had to do to win was hit the target which he did but it was the wrong target. Somehow Matt lost his focus and from lane two, he aimed at the target in lane three. His shoot scored 8.1 which was more than enough to win but he shot didn’t count because he hit the wrong target.

Keeping our focus in the key to success but it’s not always easy to do because the flesh, the world and the devil are trying to distract us. Have you noticed that in a college basketball game, the student body always sits behind the opponents goal so they can distract the players. A guy is trying to shoot a foul shot and the students are screaming and waving things in an effort to distract. Once you learn technique, the greater part of the free-throw shooting is to maintain focus.

The Pharisees were very focused but like Matt Emmons, they were focused on the wrong target. The Pharisees were legalist so they focused on works; tithing, fasting, attending synagogue, etc. Jesus commended them for doing these things but He sternly upbraided them because they were not focused on the higher things such as justice, mercy and faith.

The staff had a VBS debriefing yesterday and some changes are coming but we want to wait until we get them fine tuned before we announce what they are: I will say this, more adults are going to have to get involved or there will not be a VBS. Any retired senior adult can help if their health permits: Mrs. Jewel is 94 and she helps. We will have “Worker” guidelines for LCBS, AWANA and VBS.

Tomorrow we get back to our normal schedule with GATHERING at 6:30 pm.

Sunday is the first day of Summer and FATHER’S DAY. In honor of our Father’s and Families, we will not have pm services this Sunday.

Carmen Livingston got moved to a room yesterday [364] and Cecil Linderman is in room 405. I think both are very sick and we feel strongly that Cecil has had a stroke.

Kane goes back to St. Jude for a month: he and Michelle leave in the morning. Tracey and Kerri will leave for Jacksonville either tomorrow night or Thursday.